Images

Not all orchid bees are entirely metallic green. Here is one from a rather uncommon genus, collected, in interior Guyana rainforest that illustrates the beauty of combining black and metallics...

Evaniid wasp, Maryland, Ensign Wasp 2012, possibly Hyptia harpyoides with help from Andy Deans, Anne Arundel County

Big, Big, Big, In all its black-winged metallic glory...this species is larger than any bee north of Mexico, we trekked 2 days into the jungles of Guyana to find it. This species, and the genus as a whole, is a nest parasite on other equally large canopy dwelling Orchid Bees.

Big, Big, Big, In all its black-winged metallic glory...this species is larger than any bee north of Mexico, we trekked 2 days into the jungles of Guyana to find it. This species, and the genus as a whole, is a nest parasite on other equally large canopy dwelling Orchid Bees.

A large, parasitic orchid bee (Exaerte smaragdina). This bumble bee sized shimmering saucepan of blue and melted green was collected by Tim McMahon a few days ago in the Bagaces region of Costa Rica, where he used chemical lures similar to the orchid oils that these bees gather from .... orchids in the canopy.

A large, parasitic orchid bee (Exaerte smaragdina). This bumble bee sized shimmering saucepan of blue and melted green was collected by Tim McMahon a few days ago in the Bagaces region of Costa Rica, where he used chemical lures similar to the orchid oils that these bees gather from .... orchids in the canopy.

Dominican Republic

Cuba, GTMO, Guantanamo Bay

Cicindela scutellaris - the Festive Tiger Beetle, found on top of a butte in Badlands National Park that had ancient windblown sand at its crest, very different from the rest of the gumbo soils of the park. Here this sand specialist can build its long burrows. Experimenting with using Black Velvet as a background ...

Beltsville, Maryland, 2012, Flavopermelia caperata

Older and no so great shots (technically speaking) of Florilegus condignus. You can see tons of butterfly scales on this specimen from who knows what species were caught with it at the same time. You will find that Florilegus only collects pollen from pickerelweed (Pontedaria).

Unknown species of fly, Fossil Butte National Monument, Wyoming, 2012

A Syrphid fly in the genus Microdon. A lovely bee mimic and one that I had not seen before. Critters in the Genus Microdon complete their larval life cycle inside ant nests.

Unknown Fly species, from Malaise traps at Patuxent Wildlife Research Center, 2007, floating in hand sanitizer in a quartz cuvette....with improved clarity over the plastic cuvettes previously used

Unknown Fly species, from Malaise traps at Patuxent Wildlife Research Center, 2007, floating in hand sanitizer in a quartz cuvette....with improved clarity over the plastic cuvettes previously used

Symphyotrichum species, Beltsville, Maryland, Aster, Prince George's County

Nectar dries quickly in the Atacama Desert of Chile, the driest desert in the world, and so many plants hide their nectar in deep nectaries. Bees visiting these flowers need long tongues and, in some instances, a very long head to reach the nectar.

Found a Common Grackle lying on the ground yesterday and took it to photograph. While taking pictures of the lovely subtle sheened feathers on the back of the head, an ant must have walked through one of the shots and its ghostly imprint remained.

Nymph, Beltsville, MD

Hmmmm, this is indeed and obviously a beetle, but what we have here is a failure to communicate. Our master list does not include this species and "crackalure" is not anything I am aware of ... nor is there the usual information on time and date of the stacking. But it is pretty. So up it goes and maybe it will be discovered later what species it is.

Seems like the pharmacy is mostly full of long-winded chemical names these days....but you can still find the astringent Witch Hazel in almost any drug store and how nice to know that it is a native plant. These are the left over calyx parts from the fall blooming plant.